By Staff
Jan. 2, 2002
Writing words of wisdom on a Wednesday while wondering whatever happened to Leon Spinks …
I can almost smell it coming.
Despite the Bowl Championship Series which is supposed to guarantee the college football world of a unified National Champion we are on the verge of having two schools share the title once again.
However, the University of Miami can put all of that speculation to rest with a win over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl on Thursday.
But, if Nebraska was to win that game, then we will likely have split National Champions. The University of Oregon all but guaranteed that on Tuesday with its impressive 38-16 shellacking of the University of Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl.
If the Heisman vote was being held today, instead of last month, then Oregon's Joey Harrington would likely be the winner. He was incredible, picking the helpless Buffaloes apart for four touchdowns and 350 yards.
Oregon is No. 2 in the AP Poll which is voted on by sportswriters from across the county and I can tell you for a fact that sportswriters can be hard-headed. If Nebraska wins over Miami, then the writers will vote Oregon as No. 1.
But, don't get too excited about that possibility, because the Hurricanes will likely win the Rose Bowl by more than a touchdown on the way to an undefeated season and claiming the undisputed crown.
Oops! That didn't take long
I broke one of my New Year's Revolutions (yes, I know that it is supposed to be resolutions, but I prefer revolution it just sounds more dramatic) before the clock even struck the end to 2001.
My goal was to have an errorless year when it came to printing information in The Meridian Star.
But, my gray matter went into brain freeze and I made a couple of very stupid mistakes in the story about the Top 10 sports stories of 2001 that appeared in the Jan. 1, 2002 paper.
The first was incredibly dumb. I congratulated West Lauderdale for winning the Class 3A state softball title. I'm sure the Lady Knights appreciate that, but the fact is that Newton County won the title, not West Lauderdale.
Don't ask me how I made that mistake, but I did. Sometimes knowing better is just not precaution enough.
And on top of that, I took the basketball season of the Lady Hornets of Lake High School down a notch. I congratulated Lake for finishing second in Class A, when in fact the Lady Hornets won the title.
Sorry girls, we'll just have to do better. At least I will find it easy to improve as the year moves forward.
Don't forget to contribute
On another matter, we unveiled SIDELINES in the Jan. 1 paper. It also runs today and hopefully every day. There are several highlights to the feature, which runs one-column down the side of the high school (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday), junior college (Tuesday) or soon-to-come college (Saturday) page each day.
At the bottom of the feature is an item called Sports Faces. If you have someone with a local connection who has any involvement at all in the world of sports that you would like to see featured in Sports Faces, then don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
You can e-mail me at abishop@themeridianstar.com, call me in the mornings at 693-1551, ext. 3234 or send your suggestions by fax to 485-1201.
LSU not just lucky champion
The Tigers of LSU proved that they were indeed worthy of being the football champions of the Southeastern Conference when they jumped out to an early lead and dominated Illinois the Big 10 champs with a 47-34 win in the Sugar Bowl.
Despite getting off to a 3-4 start, the Tigers won four games in a row to close out the regular season, then stunned Tennessee in the SEC Championship game before beating Illinois handily in the Superdome on Tuesday.
Austin Bishop is the East Mississippi Group regional sports director. He oversees the operation of four sports departments, including The Meridian Star. You can e-mail him at abishop@themeridianstar.com.